The Tale of Karkinos
by Reynard the Fox
Summary: Following Heart of Harmony and Flames of Courage, I present to you this, a myth of the Moon Kingdom. Rated T for safety's sake because I really am not good at picking ratings.


Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. That belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. This is just a work of fan fiction.

The tale begins very long ago, long before even that age of peace called the Silver Millennium, last ruled by Queen Serenity the Twelfth. It was in that distant time where animals were said to have been gifted with speech. The Moon kingdom was young then, and ruled by Queen Serenity the First.

Now the queen had a single daughter, Princess Diane. Diane was well cared for, but upon reaching her teenage years, began to come into conflict with her mother, as would be expected of any teenager. It was on one particular day, after one particular fight, that Diane chose to get away from the palace. So she hid herself under a heavy cloak and escaped into the city, wandering the crowds until she at last came to a lonely, isolated stretch of beach at the edge of the Sea of Serenity, whose waters lapped gently at the edge of the Moon's capital.

The princess sat down upon a rock and huffed to herself. "So what if I do poorly in math? I'll be queen. That's what royal advisors are for." She just couldn't understand her mother's disappointment. And besides, her math tutor was so very _boring_. Actually, most of her tutors were boring. But that one in particular took it to a new height.

But Diane was not as alone here as she thought. For the beach had another occupant, a grumpy she-crab named Karkinos. Now Karkinos was not entirely like the crabs of the neighboring Earth. In fact, she was not an Earth crab. She was a Silver Moon crab. Though her kind shared many things with Earth crabs, such as their ten legs and body shape, Silver Moon crabs were a bit larger than those found on Earth, and had stronger and sharper claws, besides being silver to blend into the sand that they called home.

Karkinos too had wanted to be alone on this beach, and had claimed it as _her_ beach. In fact, she'd been contently eating her lunch of ocean plants when this girl had shown up. And Karkinos was not happy, not one bit.

"You!" cried the crab. "Get out of here. This is my beach!"

Diane looked around, but did not see where the voice had come from. "Hello? Who's there?"

"Down here Blondie. Are you blind or something?"

The princess looked down to see a very angry Moon crab staring at her. "You're just a little Moon crab," she said.

"My name is Karkinos, and this is my beach. So go away."

"Your beach? But this beach is open to everyone."

"It's mine. I live here, and no one else. So it's mine to claim. And you interrupted my lunch with your whining and sighing. So go away. Can't I eat in peace?"

Diane grimaced at the little creature. She was the princess of the Moon kingdom, heir to the throne. She couldn't allow herself to be pushed around by something like this. Why, the very thought was humiliating. So she got to her sandaled feet, and glared down at the crab.

"Well I came here to be alone, and I am not leaving, so you can just be quiet and deal with... OW!"

Diane's sentence was cut off when Karkinos clamped one of her claws above the princess's left ankle, hard. She let go as quickly as she struck, which left Diane clutching her left leg in pain, and hopping on the sand.

"OWWWW!" she whined. "My leg! That really hurt. How dare you...oof!" The girl lost her balance and tumbled to the sand, getting tangled in her heavy cloak.

Karkinos just stood there. "I dare because you invaded _my_ beach. A mouth full of sand and a clamp on the leg are what you get for trespassing. Now get out."

Diane rolled on the sand, trying to get free of her clothing, and cursing her decision to wear such a heavy cloak. Finally, after much struggling, she pulled herself free of her garment, her eyes blazing with fury. "For the last time, this isn't your beach. Do you know who I am? I am Princess Diane, daughter of Queen Serenity the First! And since this is part of my kingdom, technically this is _my_ beach we're on!" Her title would surely get some respect from this horrible little creature.

But Karkinos wasn't impressed. "Oh, so you're the princess are you? Well, isn't that wonderful? You royal Lunarians think that just because you wear a crown that you can seize whatever you want? That doesn't sound very noble to me."

The girl flailed her arms around. "Shut up! You can't speak to me that way, or treat me like this! Why any other person would have been arrested for assaulting me. And I have enough problems right now without getting sand in my mouth and dealing with a little pest like..."

It was at that point that the princess's hands, in their wild motion, brushed her throat. And what she felt, or rather, did not feel, stopped her rant cold.

"My necklace, where is my necklace?!"

Diane picked up her cloak and shook it out. Maybe it was in there? But nothing came free. She looked around the beach, and began to dig. It must have come off again. She knew she should have had the clasp fixed. But it had to be here, it just _had_ to.

The site of the heir to the Moon's throne digging in the sand was quite amusing to the crab. "What's the matter Your Highness, did you lose a piece of jewelry? Small heavy objects tend to sink quite easily in the sand there, so you will be doing a great deal of digging."

"I have to find it," replied the girl.

Karkinos waved her claws, turning to leave. "Well then enjoy being a beach comber. Too bad you aren't a natural burrower like me."

Diane looked back at the crab. "Are you saying you could dig out my necklace?"

"Sure," said the crab in passing. "It wouldn't be a problem for me."

"Well then, will you get it for me?"

"No."

"But I- I order you to do it!"

"You can't just order people around to do whatever you want, whenever you want. I don't care if you're a princess or the queen herself."

"Please," plead the girl, "I _need_ to get that necklace back."

"What's so important about it anyway? If you're Serenity's daughter, I'd have thought you'd have more jewelry than you could wear in five lifetimes."

"You don't understand. It's not just any necklace. It's a family heirloom," explained the girl. "Mother gave it to me for my birthday this year. She got it from her mother. My grandfather made it for my grandmother, a present for their first wedding anniversary." Diane's speech suddenly became more panicked. "If I don't get it back, mother will be furious." Her eyes trailed off into the distance, imagining the reaction. "She might even ground me...for an _Earth year__!_ You have to help me! I'm begging you! I'll do anything!"

Diane began to cry, and the crab gave a huff. Even her heart softened at the sight of tears. "Fine, I'll dig it out for you."

The girl's expression brightened. "Thank you so much Miss crab."

"Karkinos."

"Thank you Karkinos."

The crab gave the princess a glare. "And if I retrieve it, you will give me whatever I want?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, anything. Name it and it's yours. "

That made Karkinos nod in approval, as much as a crab could anyway. "So what does it look like?"

"It's a single charm on a gold chain. The charm is made from Venusian gold and shaped like a fawn."

"I'll dig it out if it's there. Now go away."

"Alright- what? Why do I have to leave?"

"Because I want to dig in peace. You're a bundle of nerves. You'll disturb me. Go clean the sand off of you or something, and come back later. I'll have your necklace."

So Diane picked up her cloak and left the beach, leaving the crab to burrow through the sands. Diane spent half an hour carefully cleaning all the sand from her body and clothing, and once again vowing that if she did this again, she'd use a lighter cloak, and get that stupid clasp repaired before she ever wore it again.

When she returned to the beach, Karkinos was sitting there, munching on the last pieces of some plant.

"What are you doing?"

"Finishing my lunch, the one you interrupted."

"But what about my necklace?!" Had the crab cheated her?

"I have it right here," said the crab as it swallowed the last bite. She raised her claw, showing off the trinket she'd recovered.

Diane practically leaped for it. "Oh thank you so much-"

But the claw pulled away. "Not so fast. You were going to reward me, remember?"

"What is it you want then?"

"I want this beach."

"That again?"

"Yes, that. That's all I want, to live on this beach by myself. You did make a point; this isn't actually mine, at least not to you Lunarians. So I want you to fix that."

"But how am I supposed to do that?" Diane hadn't been paying too much attention to one of her other tutors talking about the intricacies of the law. They were probably second to her math tutor in terms of boredom.

But Karkinos was a step ahead of her. "You're the princess. Can't you grant a deed of land?"

"I...guess I could."

"Good. Now if I give you your necklace, you agree to get me ownership of this beach. You come back here when you've got it to show me. I'm giving you a week."

"And if I don't come back?"

The crab gave a glare. "I'll hunt you down and tell your mother how her daughter lost her family heirloom and cheated the one that retrieved it for her."

The entire thing was ridiculous, granting a Moon crab of all things a parcel of land. But Diane needed that necklace. So she reluctantly agreed, and Karkinos handed over the jewelry. Diane then left back for the palace.

It took a few days to figure out what to do. Asking for help was difficult without explaining the situation, and revealing the fact that she'd been pushed around by a single little crab. Eventually, on the fourth day, she spoke quietly to the keeper of deeds, claiming she had a friend that wanted the beach, but she didn't want to make it public.

"But why don't they just come here?" asked the keeper.

"I- please, just draw up a deed for me. It's just a little beach, and I really need to do this."

But the keeper was uncertain. He didn't like this at all. Diane had to assure him that there wasn't anything criminal going on, merely personal. The keeper said that it still needed to be paid for, and Diane offered her own coins. The keeper of deeds relented and drew up the document, though he raised his eyebrow at the strangeness of the name the princess asked to be written on it.

"Karkinos?" he pondered after the princess had left. The name did not sound like something derived from the Moon's language, and he had certainly never heard it before. Perhaps it was some foreigner from another part of the system.

Diane only managed to sneak out of the palace on the seventh day, dressed in a new, lighter cloak and bearing her now thoroughly repaired necklace, the paper held carefully in her hand. When she reached the shore, Karkinos was waiting.

"So you made it back? I was starting to think I'd have to chase after you. Did you do what I asked?"

Diane showed the crustacean the deed, and Karkinos made noises of approval. "That's very good. You hold onto that. I certainly can't keep it here. And since this is now officially my beach, you can leave."

Diane was hurt at the crab's harshness, but did as she was told and left the beach. She'd repaid the crab. She just hoped she would never get called up to provide that land deed.

The days went on, and Diane still struggled to pay any attention to her many teachers. And this provided no end of frustration to Queen Serenity. Another week after repaying Karkinos, the two had another fight, once again about Diane's failure to learn, and how it would affect her when the time came for her to ascend the throne.

The two continued to fight, louder than ever before, when finally Diane had had enough, and screamed through the entire room. "I HATE YOU!"

With those three words, everything fell as quiet as a tomb. Serenity was in shock, and so was her daughter. Diane fled the palace, and Serenity took no action to stop her.

The girl picked up the cloak she used to go into the city and simply walked along, her eyes hidden by the hood, not particularly watching where she went. After some searching, she heard the sound of her footsteps change. She had somehow wandered back onto that same lonely stretch of beach she'd sworn never to come back to.

And still sitting on that beach was the very reason she'd made that oath, Karkinos. It might have been the exact same spot as last time. Had the crab moved at all since then? Had she just been waiting for the girl to return?

"I thought I told you to leave here," said the crab.

But Diane was too tired to fight with Karkinos. She just dropped onto the sand and pulled her knees to her chest.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Have you gone deaf now?"

When Diane still did not respond, Karkinos crawled up next to her. "Hey now, what's wrong with you? Usually you don't just sit there and take what I throw at you."

Tears welled up in the princess's eyes, and it was then Karkinos saw that there was truly something amiss. "Hey now, what's the matter?"

"Why would you care?" was the whispered reply. "All you care about is this old beach. What business of yours is my misery? You certainly didn't care before."

"You'd be surprised what I care about."

"Well you're still not the best person to talk to."

"Then don't talk to me," said the crab. "You could just talk to the ocean if you want, just to get it all off your chest. I'll just happen to be nearby."

"But then you'll be listening."

"Like you said, why should I care? I'm a crab."

After a moment of silence, Diane began to speak. "I yelled at my mother today. She was still unhappy about my tutors. She doesn't like how I don't pay attention and don't do the work they give me. She keeps saying I need to learn all this stuff, that it will help me be queen. But they are all so boring."

"If I'm queen, I'll have advisors. I don't see why I would need to know this stuff myself. But she keeps insisting, keeps telling me I need to do better. But she just doesn't understand how hard it is."

She gave a sigh. "And it's all I have to do really, all this work from all those tutors. I have no one to really spend time with, no friends."

"You have no friends at all?"

Diane ignored the intrusion by the crab and kept going. "Not my own age. I talk to the princesses of Venus sometimes, but the messages take so long to go between us. And they're not talking much now. I think they're all too busy courting men."

"That sounds pretty lonely."

Diane nodded. "It is. And the worst part was today. Today mother and I started fighting again. And I just…I had just had it with everything. I got angry and I…" new tears welled up, and she began to sob. "I yelled at her. I said I…h-hated her. I said I hated my mother. And I didn't just say it, I- I felt it too."

Repeating those words just made her tears fall faster. "I don't know what came over me. I- I must be the most wretched girl on the whole Moon. I don't deserve to even be here. I should just run away to Earth. Maybe mother can have another daughter, a better daughter."

"It can't be that bad."

"Yes it is," insisted the girl. "You're not a Lunarian. To us, saying you hate your mother, your _mother_ of all people, it's…" She couldn't even find the word. "Mother is probably going to disown me."

"I really doubt that."

"You don't even know her," was the retort.

"No, but if she really loves you, she's not going to do that to you."

"I just wish she wouldn't keep pressuring me. It all just seems like too much."

"Well, the way I see it, she's just trying to prepare you for the job."

"But it's just so much."

"Hey, being queen is a big job. You're responsible for a lot of lives. And if those advisors are ever gone, you need to be smart and able to make good decisions."

Diane looked down at her feet. "I guess so. But I still shouldn't have… I shouldn't have felt…"

"It's okay to be angry," said Karkinos. "Everybody gets angry. And your mother is human just like you. She can make mistakes. So maybe she's also pushing you too hard and too fast. But take it from me, you can't let that anger wreck what you have with other people."

In the midst of her depression, Diane felt a spark of curiosity. "How would you know?"

Karkinos hesitated for the first time that the Moon princess had known her. "I… used to have brother and sisters. I had lots in fact."

"Lots?"

"Oh yeah, we Moon crabs can have lots of kids at a time. We all fought a lot, even when we grew up. We all said things, angry things, even me. And it made us split up. That was years ago. I tried finding them once, to say I was sorry, hoping they were sorry too. But then I found out that they were all gone. I'm all that's left."

Diane had thought she had cried out all her tears, but new ones pricked her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, I know. But that's why you should go back to your mother. You can't let anger keep you from family, or friends."

Her lips curled into a soft smile. "You're actually a pretty good person to talk to."

The crab just huffed. "Glad to know I could be of service Your Highness. Now you get on out of here. You have places to be."

She was right. The Lunarian got to her feet, feeling lighter than she had when she arrived. She was practically bouncing. And she had apologies to make. She started to run off, when she heard Karkinos call back.

"By the way, if you ever want to… come by, you can."

She waved and called back. "I'll remember that. Goodbye!" With that the princess practically sprinted back to the palace. She found her mother in her quarters, lying on her bed, her own eyes red from crying. The two women embraced, each sharing their own apologies for their own failures.

After that, Diane took to her studies with new energy, though it also helped that Serenity had lightened her work load and replaced her tutors with ones more easy going than the previous group. And every few days Diane found the time to go down to the beach and visit Karkinos. The two sat there in each other's company, sometimes talking, sometimes just enjoying nothing but the sounds of the waves.

It was after many of their visits that Diane posed a new question to the crab. "Karkinos?"

"Yeah?" said the crab, who had been finishing off her food.

"Have you ever been in love?"

Karkinos gave her a strange look. "Why do you ask?"

"Mother's been asking if I want to try courting men," said Diane. "I'm not really sure. So many of them seem nice, but I don't know if I could love them."

"Ah. Well, I did fall in love once."

"Really?" Diane's face lit up, demanding details.

Karkinos reluctantly continued. "Yeah. I met this one crab a while back. He was a sweet guy too." Karkinos gave a wistful sigh. "We really had something."

"What happened to him?"

"He died" stated Karkinos. "He got eaten."

Diane's heart broke. It was bad enough Karkinos had lost all her siblings. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's okay. It's the circle of life. Besides, he left me a lot of happy memories," the crab glanced at another part of the beach near the water, and there was a trace of new warmth in her voice. "And he left me some other things too."

Diane was about to ask what the crab meant by that, when a new voice cut through the air. "I'm sure _we_ could make you happy princess."

Diane turned to see two men approaching them. Their faces were scarred and mean looking. Their hair was white and matted, and Diane could see their pointed ears, and when they smiled at her, she could see their pointed teeth.

And Diane knew who they were, what they were. Even she was not ignorant of these things. They were the Lyocans, the wolf-people. They were the savages that transformed into beasts and ate the flesh of Lunarians, the ones that lived in the darker parts of the countryside. But how had they gotten past the city walls? They weren't allowed entrance. In fact, they'd been nothing but hostile to the whole kingdom. 

The taller of the two spoke next. "You will come with us princess."

"How did you get inside the city?" said Diane, taking a step back.

"We have our ways," said the shorter of the pair. "Now come with us. We have use for you as a bargaining chip."

Karkinos stepped in front of her. "She's not going with either of you. This is my beach you're on, and the two of you will leave, right now." She turned her eyes to look at Diane. "Run now. I'll hold them off, just go."

The taller man bellowed. "You think you can order us around? You're nothing but a crab."

Karkinos sneered at them. "Small I may be, but I'm still larger than both your brains put together."

The wolf man let out a growl. "You little…. never mind!" He leapt forward, ready to grab Diane. But Karkinos was quick. She clamped her claws around his ankles, and clamped them hard. So hard was her grip that she drew blood. The wolf man screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

"RUN!" screamed the crab, and Diane, unwilling though she was to leave her friend, took off down the beach as fast as she could, heart pounding in her chest.

The shorter of the Lyocans tried to take off after her, but was momentarily stunned by sand striking his face, followed by a rock. He fought to clear his eyesight when he felt claws come down on his heel, sending him to the ground as well. They two reached out to grab her, but Karkinos dug into the sand, putting her out of reach.

Karkinos emerged from the sand, confident she'd stunned the pair. But just as she surfaced, a powerful hand smashed into her side, sending her into a collision with a rock. Stunned, the small crab looked up to the smaller of the two Lyocans looming over her.

"You little pest, this is what you deserve for getting in our way," snarled the man, right before he stomped down on her.

Diane had almost made it down the beach when she heard it. She heard the sickening crunch, and Karkinos's scream. Her legs froze, nearly sending her off balance as her heart leapt to her throat. "KARKINOS!"

In spite of all logic, she found herself racing back to her friend. She tried to avoid them, but it was no use. A strong pair of hands seized her arms, pinning her in place.

"Let me go! Let me go! Karkinos! Let me go!" She struggled wildly against him, but the wolf man just held her tight.

"Be quite you little brat," growled the Lyocan, twisting her arms tighter, making the girl whimper in pain. "With you in our clutches your mother will do whatever we want."

The second Lyocan limped to his companion, the holes in his ankles still staining the sand red. His face is all fury, and he raises a hand as he nears the princess. His nails extend into full claws.

"I want a piece of her flesh," he says with an animal growl, saliva already dripping from his mouth.

"No," said his companion. "Remember, Alpha said he wanted her alive."

"I won't kill her" countered the man. "I'll just take a slice out of her face. This little brat was a pain to catch, and I've always wondered what the flesh of princesses tasted like."

He raised his hand, and Diane closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to come. But before he could bring his hand down, there came a sharp _twang_, followed by a scream of agony.

When Diane opened her eyes, she saw her attacker howling in pain, an arrow lodged into the palm of his hand.

"Let go of Princess Diane right now."

There was the sound of feet jumping down onto the sand. And when Diane turned to the sound of the voice, she saw a familiar face. Standing there was Artemis, supreme commander of the royal archers, renowned huntress. Hunting knife strapped to her belt, she stood there, arrow drawn and leveled at the other Lyocan.

"I will warn you two again. Release the princess right now and leave this city. If you don't, I may just decide to take your hides and use them to make myself the new coat I've been meaning to get."

Her captor tightened his grip around her. "There are two of us and only one of you, and we have the princess. Even with your sharp aim, do you really think you can deal with both of us?" Next to him his companion pulled the arrow free, and was ready for a battle.

Artemis smiled wickedly at them. "You raise a good point. But I think you need to count again."

As if on command, a flurry of noise erupted on the beach. An entire unit of royal archers took up positions, drawing their bows and leveling them at the pair. And running up onto the sand came Artemis's pack of hounds.

The two wolves looked around, sweat dripping from their foreheads. They stood totally surrounded. Artemis's expression is as confident as ever. In fear of their lives, the two abandon the princess and flee, running as quickly as they can to escape the range of the archers.

Diane ran too, ran to Karkinos. The crab was alive, but barely. Her entire lower body was crushed, soft insides exposed and bleeding. "Oh Karkinos," she whispered, kneeling down, almost afraid to touch the awful wounds. "You fool. You should have run with me."

The crab opened her eyes half way. "No I couldn't. I needed to make sure you were safe. You…you were the first friend I've had in a long time. I couldn't abandon the ones I care about, I couldn't lose them, not again."

"We'll find someone to help you. I promise. Just hold on."

"Don't bother," muttered the crab. "It's too late for me. Besides," she added weakly, "I think it's time I see my brothers and sisters again. We've got so much time to make up for, and I've been away for long enough."

Hot tears rolled down Diane's cheeks. Karkinos raised one of her claws.

"Don't cry," she said. "I hate to see you cry. It…it makes me want to cry too. I…. take care of them for me."

Her eyes closed, and the claw fell to the sand. Diane's tears turned to heaving sobs. Someone walks up behind her. It is Queen Serenity.

"Diane, are you alright," she whispers. "I sent Artemis out to find you after you were gone so long. She only found you because you screamed. Diane?"

Diane looks up at her mother will reddened eyes before glancing back at the body of her friend. "She saved me mother." Her voice was quivering. "She protected me. She was my friend and she saved me and… and…"

Without another word, Serenity understood. She holds her daughter close, letting the girl sob into her shoulder. She almost cried herself out when Artemis catches her attention.

"I think," she says slowly, "There is something you need to see."

The huntress led Diane over to another part of the beach. There was a hole in the sand, near the edge of the water. And inside of it, there were a bunch of… things crawling around. It took a second before she realized what they were.

"Moon crabs," she whispered.

"Baby moon crabs," replied Artemis in agreement. "From the looks of it, they just hatched recently. They won't survive long on their own."

Karkinos's words echoed in her head. _And he left me some other things too. Take care of them for me._

Diane turned to look at her mother, ready to speak, but her mother already nodded in agreement. Diane knew what she had to do.

The baby moon crabs were taken carefully back to the palace, and placed in a special indoor habitat constructed just for them, paid for by Diane herself. The young princess took it upon herself to hire the best caretakers she could find. She cared for them as if they were her own.

It was under her suggestion that her mother passed a law banning the killing or harming of any crab or crustacean, in honor the one that had saved Diane's life. If Karkinos had not acted as she had and stalled the beasts, Diane might have fallen into their clutches and might have died. And the royal family of the Moon, continued as it was by Diane's direct descendants, and who stretched all the way to Princess Serenity the Thirteenth in the time of the Silver Millennium, may also never have lived.

When Diane ascended to the throne, she established two holidays on the Moon, one a day of loud celebration to mark the day she met her friend, and the other a day of quiet remembrance, family gathering, and the forgiveness of old grudges, to mark the day of her passing.

Diane was remembered for the vast warmth of her heart, and her devotion to helping orphans. She would visit the orphanages of the capital every year. All who met her called her friend.

And it was on a day, several years into her reign, when she stood on that very beach, one of those little Moon Crabs on her shoulder, when the crab went into the water. And when it came out, it bore in its claws a stone, a stone that, once the grime cleared away, revealed a crystal of fabulous silver…

And even after the Silver Millennium ended, even after the people of the Moon and the Solar System were long gone, ancient man looked up into the sky at the zodiac, memories of that time lost to consciousness. It was little wonder then, that when they saw the sign of the crab, they knew it to belong to the Moon. It was still as loyal to it as it had always been. And when it came to giving it a name, a single word came forth, whispered from the darkness of unconscious memory: _Karkinos_, or as it would be known later, Cancer.


End file.
